Oh, Hi! uncorks a dark satire of modern romance, love and commitment. It savagely skewers secular ideals about what relationships today sometimes look like. But it also contains explicit sexual content (including nudity), the threat of violence, foul language and a subplot involving witchcraft.
Iris and Isaac are on a romantic weekend getaway.
The two have been an item for a few months now, and this is their first big trip together. And though Iris was a little nervous at first, things are going swimmingly. The couple has an easy, natural connection. As far as Iris is concerned, their first day in a lovely little cottage upstate could not have gone any better.
After a particularly intimate encounter, she makes a confession to Isaac. “I just didn’t expect this … for it to feel this easy. Our first trip as a couple.”
That’s when Isaac makes a confession of his own. “I think you’re great, I’m just not really looking for a relationship right now.”
Yes, Iris and Isaac have two very different views of their relationship (or lack thereof). She thought they had a connection, a chance at a real, committed relationship. He thought they were just “hanging out and having fun.”
Iris is equally stunned when she learns that Isaac has also been seeing other women, also in the “hanging out and having fun” kind of way. She’s understandably upset but doesn’t break things off.
In fact, after some ill-advised advice from her mother and a trip down a pop-psych relationship internet rabbit hole, she determines that she just needs to convince a commitment-averse Isaac that he really does want to be with her.
Isaac isn’t interested. Unfortunately for him, he’s a captive audience. Literally. As a result of their aforementioned romantic encounter, Isaac is a bit—let me put this delicately—restrained. And Iris holds the keys. Again, literally.
(This is what one might call … kidnapping.)
But Iris’ efforts to get Isaac to commit to her are just beginning. So is his misery.
During one of their prior dates, Isaac kindly consoled Iris after she had a difficult day. A person searches for a man who is injured and sees that he is rescued.
As the situation with Isaac deteriorates, Iris turns to her friend Max for help. With other options exhausted or untenable, Max reaches out to her cousin—whom she refers to unironically as “a witch”—for help. This witchy woman gives the young women a “spell” to wipe Isaac’s recent memories. The witchcraft subplot is played mostly for laughs, and the spell proves ineffective. But we still observe people lighting candles, brewing a potion in a cauldron and speaking an incantation.
Iris prays that God will make Isaac stay with her. Isaac prays that God will get him out of his situation alive.
Before sex, someone jokingly says, “Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned.” A character speaks about “gifts from the universe.” Another refers to the “power of sisterhood” as it pertains to witchcraft.
Someone talks about evolution.
Iris and Isaac have an easy chemistry, their interactions both engaging and believable. The film is eager to explore every detail of their relationship.
Unfortunately, the detail Oh, Hi! is initially most interested in showing us is the couple’s sexual relationship. Sex scenes are explicit, including breast nudity and graphic movements, and tend to linger.
Even when sex is not being shown on screen, the movie makes plenty of room for suggestive and bluntly sexual dialogue. Sexual positions are referenced, alongside mentions of other intimate functions. And, not for nothing, the film makes a major plot point of sexual bondage.
As the story turns, it becomes clear that Iris and Isaac have very different romantic priorities. She desires commitment, while he seeks gratification without commitment. But both are eager to hop into bed with each other, leading to confusion and disconnect. For example, Isaac, misunderstanding the exclusivity Iris desired, has been sleeping with other women while they’ve been together.
After her sudden falling out with Isaac, Iris reaches out to her mother for advice, who encourages her to “use her body” to convince Isaac to remain in the relationship. This kicks off Iris’ spiral, leading her to hold Isaac against his will so she can convince him to stay with her. (It goes about as well as you’d expect.)
A man mistakenly thinks a couple is having sex in a public creek, something he claims other people have been trying to do. Two people admit to kissing their cousins—one case was an accident, the other wasn’t. A man walked in on his father cheating on his mother when he was young.
Two women get naked to “cast a spell,” and we see their bare backsides. Someone is called a “softboi,” which refers to a man who portrays himself as emotionally open to attract women. A variant term includes the f-word.
Someone bemoans, “People fall in love, and then it falls apart.” When told that’s not always the case, he replies, “It falls apart a lot.”
A couple flirts and kisses passionately. Isaac spends much of the film in his underwear. Iris wears some revealing outfits. A woman seduces someone in a dream. Sex toys are discovered in a closet. Unmarried couples sleep in bed together. We hear that a couple met through Tinder. A crude term for a sexual act is used.
Once their romantic getaway goes haywire, Iris keeps Isaac chained to a bed. When he demands to be released, Iris threatens to stab him. (She says it’s a joke, but Isaac is clearly frightened.) Though billed as a comedy, there is a noticeable tension running through Oh, Hi! as we wonder what Iris will do to Isaac—with the possibility that things could end very badly definitely still in play.
Eventually, Max and her boyfriend become Iris’ willing accomplices. While brainstorming what to do with Isaac, Max suggests either giving him a head injury or even killing him—but it’s obvious she’s worked up and not thinking clearly.
In one scene, Isaac struggles against his bonds while Iris tries to restrain him; they end up accidentally hitting each other which results in a black eye and bloody nose.
A man is gagged. Iris shares a graphic detail about her birth. We see the aftermath of a car crash, which results in a broken ankle. Another minor auto accident involves a car running into a fruit stand.
Nearly 50 f-words and 12 s-words are used. God’s name is misused nearly 30 times, paired once with “d—.” Jesus’ name is abused four times.
“A–” and “a–hole” are heard a handful of times.
Max suggests they force Isaac to take Rohypnol (which she calls the “roofie drug”) to give him short-term memory loss. A man is given a “magic potion” that will supposedly have the same effect.
Iris and Isaac drink wine and whiskey, to the point of being drunk. Someone mentions being “blackout drunk” and hungover. There’s conversation about taking a cannabinoid edible. A date takes place in a bar.
As stated above, Iris technically kidnaps Isaac. When this realization finally dawns on her, she doesn’t release him but instead tries to think of ways to get out of her predicament.
Iris’ mother encourages her to try to convince Isaac to stay with her because, as she puts it, “sometimes men don’t know what’s best for them.”
While imprisoned, Isaac cannot use the restroom on his own, so Iris has him urinate into a bowl on multiple occasions. (Nothing critical is shown, but we hear the sounds.) Iris relieves herself on the side of a road—we see her underwear and a brief glimpse of her bare leg as she covers up.
People discuss dilation in childbirth, hernias and menstrual cramps. Someone clogs a toilet.
Oh, Hi! tells a dark comedic story about modern dating and relationships. And in some ways, the film accomplishes its goal. Molly Gordon and Logan Lerman deliver a convincing portrait of a couple in the still-early stages of a relationship (then, later, as a captor-captive). The dialogue is sharp. And when the tale’s vibe tilts from rom-com to true crime, it keeps you guessing what will happen until the very end.
That said, the movie’s ideas about love and commitment are firmly rooted in secular ideals, even as this satire skewers them. Iris wants an exclusive relationship. Isaac wants no-strings-attached romance and sex. Oh, Hi! struggles to define why one approach would be preferable over the other.
Without the purposeful moral and spiritual understanding of the God-ordained and designed institution of marriage, all the film can really do is shrug.
And that’s to say nothing of the explicit sexual content, heaps of foul language, the lingering threat of violence and a subplot revolving around witchcraft.
A weekend getaway with this movie? You’ll want to skip that trip.
Bret loves a good story—be it a movie, show, or video game—and enjoys geeking out about things like plot and story structure. He has a blast reading and writing fiction and has penned several short stories and screenplays. He and his wife love to kayak the many beautiful Colorado lakes with their dog.
